Using a Template Processor to Determine Context Nodes

1. A method comprising: receiving a first input comprising a first data instance; selecting a unique identifier and adding the unique identifier to the first data instance in the first input; receiving a second input comprising a first template, wherein the first template is an XSLT stylesheet, wherein generation of the second input comprises: copying one or more template statements into the XSLT stylesheet; and removing predicates from the one or more template statements; adding output instructions to the first template, wherein: the first template comprises instructions for processing the first data instance; and the output instructions are configured to instruct an XSLT processor to provide an output, the output comprising: identifying information for the first template; and the unique identifier of the first data-instance; processing the first input and the second input with the XSLT processor, wherein the XSLT processor is configured to process data instances according to instructions within a template definition of the first template, to determine context nodes, and to perform processing during design time editing and deployment of the XSLT stylesheet; mapping, by the XSLT processor, data instances in the first input to the first template in the second input in order to indicate an association of the data instances with the first template; and outputting, by the XSLT processor, the mapping of data instances, wherein the mapping that is output by the XSLT processor includes the unique identifier of the first data instance of the first input matched with the first template of the second input in order to identify one or more context nodes for the first template during design time editing, in which)(Path expressions are generated in accordance with the one or more context nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a first user input comprised of a plurality of data instances, wherein the first data instance is included in the plurality of data instances; and creating the first input by extracting data from the first user input that are associated with instantiations of the plurality of data instances or with relationships between one or more of the plurality of data instances.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a second user input comprised of a plurality of template definitions, wherein the first template is included in the plurality of template definitions; and creating the second input by extracting instructions from the second user input that are associated with matching templates to data instances.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein creating the second input further comprises importing instructions that are associated with matching data templates to instances from a third input that is referenced by the second user input.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving, in response to the processing of the first input and the second input, the output generated by the XSLT processor, wherein the output comprises: the identifying information for the first template; the unique identifier of the first data instance; and an indication that the first data instance was processed by the XSLT processor according to the first template.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising: parsing the output generated by the XSLT processor; and providing an indication to a user that the first data instance matches the first template.

7. The method of claim 6 , further wherein providing the indication to the user is comprised of providing a graphical indication in a source editor.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein: the first template includes a reference to run-time data; and the reference to the run-time data is removed from the second input prior to being processed by the XSLT processor.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first input and the second input are generated automatically from a first user input file and a second user input file, respectively.

10. A system comprising: a computer including a computer readable medium and processor; an XSLT processor operating on the computer; and a storage device, connected to the computer, having sets of instructions stored thereon, wherein the sets of instructions, cause the system to: receive an XML input comprising a first XML, element; select and add a unique identifier as an attribute to the first XML element; receive an XSLT input comprising a first template, wherein the first template is an XSLT stylesheet, wherein generation of the second input comprises: copying one or more template statements into the XSLT stylesheet; and removing predicates from the one or more template statements; add output code to the first template, wherein the first template comprises code for processing the first XML element; the first template comprises an expression that matches the first template with the first XML element; and the output code is configured to instruct the XSLT processor to provide an output, the output comprising: identifying information for the first template; and the unique identifier of the first XML, element; and process the XML input and the XSLT input with the XSLT processor, wherein the XSLT processor is configured to process data instances according to instructions within a template definition of the first template, to determine context nodes, and to perform processing during design time editing and deployment of the XSLT stylesheet; map, by the XSLT processor, XML elements in the XML input to the first template in the XSLT input in order to indicate an association of the XML elements with the first template; and output, by the XSLT processor, the mapping of the XML elements in the XML input, wherein the mapping that is output, by the XSLT processor, includes the unique identifier of the first XML element of the XML input matched with the first template of the XSLT input in order to identify one or more context nodes for the first template during design time editing, in which XPath expressions are generated in accordance with the one or more context nodes.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to: receive a user XML input comprised of a plurality of XML elements, wherein the first XML element is included in the plurality of XML elements; and create the XML input by extracting code from the user XML input that is associated with the plurality of XML elements or with a relationship between one or more of the plurality of XML elements.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to: receive a user XSLT input comprised of a plurality of template definitions, wherein the first template is included in the plurality of template definitions; and create the XSLT input by extracting code from the user XSLT input that is associated with matching templates to data instances.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein creating the XSLT input further comprises extracting code from the user XSLT input that directs the XSLT processor to apply templates.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to: receive, in response to the processing of the XML input and the XSLT input, the output generated by the XSLT processor, wherein the output comprises: the identifying information for the first template; the unique identifier of the first XML element; and an indication that the first XML element was processed by the XSLT processor according to the first template.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to: parse the output generated by the XSLT processor; and provide an indication to a user that the first XML element matches the first template according to the expression of the first template.

16. The system of claim 15 , further wherein providing the indication to the user is comprised of providing a graphical indication in an XML source editor.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein; the first template includes a relative XPath expression; and the relative XPath expression is removed from the XSLT input prior to being processed by the XSLT processor.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the XML input and the XSLT input are generated automatically from a user XML input file and a user XSLT input file, respectively.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for using an XSLT processor to determine context nodes for design-time display, having sets of instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to: receive an XML input comprising a first XML element; select and add a unique identifier as an attribute to the first XML element; receive an XSLT input comprising a first template, wherein the first template is an XSLT stylesheet, wherein generation of the second input comprises: copying one or more template statements into the XSLT stylesheet; and removing predicates from the one or more template statements; add output code to the first template, wherein the first template comprising code for processing the first XML element; the first template comprising an expression that matches the first template with the first XML element; and the output code is configured to instruct the XSLT processor to provide an output, the output comprising: identifying information for the first template; and the unique identifier of the first XML element; and process the XML input and the XSLT input with the XSLT processor, wherein the XSLT processor is configured to process data instances according to instructions within a template definition of the first template, to determine context nodes, and to perform processing during design time editing and deployment of the XSLT stylesheet; map, by the XSLT processor, XML elements in the XML input to the first template in the XSLT input in order to indicate an association of the XML elements with the first template; and output, by the XSLT processor, the mapping of the XML, elements, wherein the mapping that is output by the XSLT processor includes the unique identifier of the first XML element of the XML input matched with the first template of the XSLT input in order to identify one or more context nodes for the first template during design time editing, in which XPath expressions are generated in accordance with the one or more context nodes.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium for using the XSLT processor to determine context nodes for design-time display of claim 19 , wherein the sets of instructions further cause the computer system to: receive a user XML input comprised of a plurality of XML elements, wherein the first XML element is included in the plurality of XML elements; and create the XML input by extracting code from the user XML input that is associated with the plurality of XML elements or with a relationship between one or more of the plurality of XML elements.

21. A method comprising: receiving a first input comprising a first data instance and a second data instance; selecting and adding a first unique identifier to the first data instance and a second unique identifier to the second data instance in the first input; receiving a second input comprising a first template and a second template, wherein the first template is an XSLT stylesheet, wherein generation of the second input comprises: copying one or more template statements into the XSLT stylesheet; and removing predicates from the one or more template statements; adding first output instructions to the first template and adding second output instructions to the second template, wherein: the first template comprises first instructions for processing the first data instance and the second template comprises second instructions for processing the second data-instance; and the first output instructions and the second output instructions are configured to instruct an XSLT processor to provide a mapping output, the mapping output comprising: identifying information for the first template and the second template; and the first unique identifier of the first data instance and the second unique identifier of the second data instance; matching the first data instance with the first template and matching the second data instance with the second template; processing the first input and the second input with the XSLT processor, wherein the XSLT processor is configured to process the first data instance according to the first instructions in the first template and process the second data instance according to the second instructions in the second template, to determine context nodes, and to perform processing during design time editing and deployment of the XSLT stylesheet; mapping, by the XSLT processor, data instances in the first input to the first template in the second input in order to indicate an association of the data instances with the first template; and outputting by the XSLT processor the mapping of data instances, wherein the mapping that is output includes the first unique identifier of the first data instance of the first input matched with one of the first template and the second template of the second input and the second unique identifier of the second data instance of the first input matched with one of the first template and the second template of the second input in order to identify one or more context nodes for each of the first template and the second template during design time editing, in which XPath expressions are generated in accordance with the one or more context nodes.

22. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the XSLT processor is configured to process an XML input that is the first input in accordance with an XSLT style sheet that is the second input.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mapping that is output by the XSLT processor includes a plurality of unique identifiers of a plurality of inputs matched with a plurality of templates in order to identify a plurality of context nodes for each of the plurality of templates.